It is well known to use acoustic waves, such as ultrasonic energy, to determine information about an object. For example, in non-destructive testing, ultrasonic energy pulses are used to determine whether flaws exist in an object without damaging the object. Ultrasonic energy pulses are also used to obtain information about the friction ridge surfaces, such as fingerprints, of human beings.
To use an ultrasonic energy pulse to obtain information, the pulse must be sent from a device (the “emitter”) that is suitable for emitting ultrasonic energy pulses toward an object to be analyzed, and there must be a device (the “receiver”) that is suitable for receiving the energy once it has been reflected by or passed through the object. For ease of description, we will discuss the situation in which ultrasonic energy is reflected, but it will be recognized that this description (and the invention) can be applicable to situations in which the detected ultrasonic energy passes through the object being analyzed. Furthermore, in order to illustrate the concepts and ideas, the object being analyzed is from time to time described as a fingerprint, but it will be recognized that the invention is not limited to fingerprints.
When the object being analyzed is a fingerprint, a single device may be used to serve as both the emitter and the receiver. Usually, the emitter and the receiver are positioned some distance from the object being analyzed, and so the emitted ultrasonic energy and the reflected ultrasonic energy must travel through a transmittive substance. Air is a transmittive substance for ultrasonic energy, but other substances transmit ultrasonic energy better than air. One such transmittive substance is mineral oil. Regardless of the choice of transmittive substance, the strength of the ultrasonic energy pulse is weakened and scattered as it passes through the transmittive substance. The result is that by the time the ultrasonic energy arrives at the receiver, the strength of the pulse has greatly diminished.
As a result of scattering caused by the transmittive substance, some of the ultrasonic energy reflected from one part of an object will arrive at a portion of the receiver that is intended for receiving ultrasonic energy from another part of the object. Such scattering tends to reduce the clarity of the information provided by an ultrasonic system.
Traditionally, plastic lenses have been used to collect and focus ultrasonic energy from the image plane of a target object to another image plane where an ultrasonic receiver converts the ultrasonic energy to an electric signal, which then can be used to generate a visual representation of the object. The primary drawbacks in this methodology have been (a) large lens size, and (b) the inability to create short transmission paths for transferring the ultrasonic energy. Additionally, compound lens assemblies must frequently be fabricated to tight mechanical tolerances, which results in increased costs.
The prior art ultrasonic systems would be made more effective if there was a way to transmit ultrasonic energy that had less attenuation of the ultrasonic energy pulse and/or that prevented scattering of the ultrasonic energy pulse.